MR. LAKIOTES: Todayís date is December 4th,
2001. The time is 11:45. I am Lieutenant Chief Art
Lakiotes here at the command of the New York City Fire
Department. I am conducting an interview with --
THE WITNESS: Mark Ruppert.
MR. LAKIOTES: -- firefighter Mark
Ruppert regarding the events of September
11th, 2001.
Q. Mark, if you would, just take me through the
time you got on the rigs, responded and what transpired during
this event.
A. We got to the box about 10 to 9. We went to a
staging area outside the Battery Tunnel with about five other
companies that met us there, 101 being one of them, and 202
and 205.
We were watching the tower burn when the second
one hit. We actually saw the second one hit and the plane
burst into flames. Not even a minute later we were sent in to
the box. So we went through the tunnel.
After we got through the tunnel, we pulled up
right in front of the building, weaving
in and out of the other trucks. We got a spot out in front
there. We got out and we said, you know what óó the chauffeur
pulled the rig around the corner. There were so many rigs
there already.
We went across the street, across West Street,
and we were waiting there. As we were waiting there -- well,
you donít want to know about the bodies jumping. You know all
that.
Q. Whatever you feel like talking about, just tell
me.
A. We were there for about 15 minutes, 10, 15
minutes. Then we got orders to follow up. So we went under
the overpass. We crossed Liberty, went under the overpass and
then proceeded into the lobby of the Marriott, crossing
Liberty.
As we entered the lobby, we entered it through
the bar area. Then we went into the lounge area which
connected, from what I understand, to tower one and tower
two.
We were told to get comfortable because we were
going to be there a while. Some got real comfortable. I left
my bunker pants on and took them off when I -- I think I left
my coat in there. I took my coat off because it was hot, took
the
tank off, put our tools down. I went to use the bathroom, got
something to drink there. They had water set up. There was a
lot of companies in the lobby there.
Q. What time was that? Do you have any idea how
many guys were in that lobby at that time?
10? 20? 30? 40?
A. I would definitely say between 75 and 100, I
would say. It was full. The whole lobby was -ó
Q. Full of firefighters?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Lieutenant Wood went to the command post
staging area for instructions?
A. Yeah. Letís see. He took a walk down there,
down the lobby, and came back and said --actually when we went
that way, he told us to go to the bathroom, try to use the
phone, which I tried but I didnít get through on my phone
call. We used the bathroom, whatever.
When I got back, he was back. He said,
ìAll right, weíre going to go down to ---ë I
thought he said weíre going to go to work. I
thought we were going to go relieve companies up
there. He said weíre going to go to a staging area down in
the other tower, the north tower.
Basically just at that time I had my ó-I got my
coat back on. I had my mask in my hand. I was about to put it
on my back and -ó
Q. You started hearing a noise?
A. No, no. Looking out the window -- I was facing the
window, and I saw everybody running.
Q. Gary said the same thing. You knew something
was going on.
A. I yelled. I said, ìEverybody run. Something is
going on.î We were basically looking out and you saw
everybody running. Then you look up. You hear rumbling. You
hear something. So you look up and we saw the reflection of
the building across the street. We knew something was coming
down.
Then we just said hit the deck. Everybody was
running towards the back of the lobby. We ran into an area
where we were -- we were running kind of towards the bar area
where we came in. So I guess instinct tells you to go the way
you came in, so instinct.
You felt it all coming.
rumbling. You heard it hitting the floor. Then it was just
that hit and the wind came and was blowing us. Back into the
bar area is where it blew us. Somewhere along the line a
rolldown gate came down between the lobby and the bar, and we
realized that was the only way out after a few minutes of
being in there. We didnít know what was in there. We lifted
the gate up to get out.
What were you going to say? You were going to
say something?
Q. I was running down Liberty. I was one of the
guys you saw running, because we could see it actually
happening. We looked up -ó see, Iím surprised -- what was in my
mind and I could never forget it is the noise it made.
A. Yeah.
Q. It was like a train --
A. A freight tratn.
Q. -- going over my head. When Gary said that you
thought you heard something, it really was incredible. He
didnít hear what we heard. We knew he was right under it, but
we heard from the outside.
A.
you hear the floor snapping? After the first one came, we
wound up going across the street. We wound up -- we were going
where the windows were. We were going out that way. We didnít
realize we were out of the building until we were in the
middle of West Street, basically. There was a crevice that we
were climbing down and all this steel óó
Q. What was the visibility like?
A. It was very hazy, very thick. But you could
see. You look back and you couldnít really see the building --
anything. But once you were across the street, you look and
you see the structure, steel sticking up still.
Then when we were across the street --as we were
going, there was a guy in a bush. He might have been a
reporter of some kind. David something. I grabbed someone
else and said, ìLetís get this guy.î We pulled him across the
street, and we took him with us into there was a de1~ over
there. We put him in there.
Then as we said what are we going to do now,
what are we going to do with this guy, whatís our next move,
thatís when the second building -- I
guess 10 minutes later? 15 minutes later? I donít know. It
seemed like that much.
But then we saw the other one coming down. Part
of you wanted to keep looking because it was like holy cow.
You could hear it going ìkachoo, kachoo, kachoo.î Now outside
itís total hysteria, and you had time because itís this big
building. You had -- I donít know, how long did it take?
Looking at it we said we better get tn.
We started running. We. realized weíve got to
get cover. We all started diving into this store, pushing
each other in, pushing a guy and heís pushing you. You get in
there, and itís basically the same thing. That wind was
blowing and debris messed that building up. All the windows
were broken in the front of the building. We thought we were
buried in there. Somebody started panicking, and somebody
took over and told them to shut the hell up.
Q. That bad?
A. Yeah.
Then somebody walked outside and said letís see
if we can get outside. It was clear. You couldnít see
anything, but we could walk out
and we werenít buried. The dust was settling.
We grabbed that guy again and we pulled him
down West Street to the water, and they took
him in the boat. Then we walked along the water to where they
were evacuating people. We got a bunch of people on.
Everybody was standing around.
Finally officers said, ìYou guys, weíre going to go now.î
Thatís basically it.
Q. You donít know how much time you have on the
job? I asked your chief about it, but I donít remember.
A. I have like three years.
Q. Okay. So donít know of anybody you saw in the
lobby except for your own company?
A. I remember seeing guys from 101.
Q. You do?
A. Yeah.
Q. At what point in time do you remember seeing
them?
A. I saw them on the outside of the tunnel
when we met there. Then we pulled into 101. I
know the faces. I think it was a guy from 122. I
saw 122 in there. 101, Pm pretty sure they were
down in front. We were in the lobby. They went down further,
and we were on this side.
Q. You were more towards the Liberty Street side?
A. We were more towards Liberty, yeah, and they
were in front of there. There was dozens of firemen. I donít
know why at that point -- I know after we came down and I was
walking out and I couldnít find my helmet and my tools. I was
kicking a helmet, so I shook it off, I put it on my head, and
I went out, thinking it was mine.
A guy when I was outside, he said, ìYouíre from
58?î I said, ìNo, I just found this helmet.î I didnít even
know what number was on it. He said, ìThatís my helmet.î So
whether it was or not, he got his helmet back. So I know 58
was in there.
Q. You didnít see anybody from 101 after that?
A. No, no. After that it was who was with us
there. Basically it was guys from our company. There was a
pedestrian or two. That was abou: it, really. I canít hardly
remember. I know it w~s us from our company. There were a few
other
firefighters, that guy there from 5~. Thatís it.
I canít remember anybody else being with us there.
There werenít too many with us. There were about
10, 12 guys there, maybe. Thatís it.
Q. Your memory is better than mine, believe me.
A. Part of you starts searching, thinking youíre
going to find tools, find my helmet, any other guys. It was
just such a mess.
Q. How was the visibility?
A. They 3aid weíre going out, everybody our, grab
people and weíre going out.
Q. How was the visibility in the lobby of the
hotel after the collapse?
A. It was settling. Tt was like a thick smoke. It
was thick. It was a thick dust. You could see. It was
settling. At first you couldnít see a thing. I was worried
about breathing. I couldnít see. I had my hood over. Good
thing I had the hood. I had that over my mouth, and I was
breathing through that. Youíre kicking a lot of dust and dirt
and papers. Everybody looked like a statue. All you could see
was the guys and the mouth.
Q. The eyes were all red.
A. Yeah. It seemed like everybody was going ìblahî
with their mouth and spitting. We went to the guy across the
street and we kind of tried to towel up, get the junk out. It
was bad, but you could see. It was like a thick fog. You
could actually see to get to walk. You could see ir. front of
you.
Q.
A.
look at
Q.
A.
I
wish
--
You
did
fine.
Iím
pretty
aware of
when I
go to
jobs I
differen
t
companie
s that
are
there.
Sure.
I
just
wish
I
woul
d
have
a
litt
le
more ó-
Q. Let me tell you, it was traumatic for everybody
that was there. A lot of us doní:
remember a lot that went on.
Okay. Thank you.
MR. LAKIOTES: This concludes the
interview. It is approximately 12:00.
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You felt the
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Did you hear the snapping on that? Did
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